Electrical apparatus for dental sterilization



March 17, 1942. B. w. MEIMAN ELECTRICAL APPARATUS FOR DENTAL STERILIZATION Filed April 26, 1938 INVENTOR fiz/w/wvgmn/zw/rm ORNEY Patented Mar. 17, 1942 ELECTRICAL APPARATUS FOR DENTAL STERILIZATION Benjamin Wiiiiam Meiman, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application April 26, 1938, Serial No. 204,278

2 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatuses adapted for the use of dentists in the sterilization of apical foramina and apical spaces; and for the aseptic treatment of apical abscesses, granulomatous area and putrescent pulps and for various other tissues and cavities which may be involved in the dental pathology of decay or infection.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a conveniently applicable dental apparatus for the electrical sterilization of apical foramina, apical spaces, etc., having one part of the apparatus adapted, as an electrode, to be attached to the check of the patient during the electrical sterilization operation.

Another object in connection with that just mentioned is to so form such electrode as to provide two opposed metal parts thereof, one adapted to contact the inner moist tissues of the mouth cavity, while having the other adapted to gently press against the outside of the cheek, to hold the same between these opposed electrodes.

A further object is to provide, in connection with the electrical means used for sterilization, a form of circuit connections and parts, which can be easily handled by the dentist, during the operation, and without discomfort to the patient.

With these and other objects, which will hereinafter appear, my invention resides in certain construction of apparatus, one embodiment of which is illustrated in the drawing and is hereinafter described. Its use and operation is explained, and what I claim is set forth.

In the figure there is shown a box I for containing the usual electrical transforming, rectifying and reducing devices for modifying the current to one suitable for application, as will be hereinafter referred to. 2 is a common, two point plug for engaging an outlet socket of a house, alternating circuit, which is transformed and rectified into a direct current and reduced within the box I.

3 and i are respective negative and positive sockets connected, but not shown, with the transforming and reducing devices, inside the box 1. Shown releasably engaged with these sockets 3 and 4, are the respective plugs 5 and 6, which are terminals for the respective wires 1 and 8. i3 is a U-shaped, elastic, metal, cheek electrode, having its forked ends each terminating in a metal plate or pad M. The plates or pads I4 are positioned opposite one another, and are adapted by the elastic body of the cheek electrode to be normally spring pressed together, so as it engages the check of a patient, having one of the pads within the mouth cavity, against the moist tissues of the cheek, and having the other pad spring pressed against the outside skin, of the cheek, thus supporting the part [3 upon the cheek.

One of the pads I4 is releasably connected with the wire 8, by means of a binding post or other suitable connection, while the wire I is releasably fixed to a binding post 9, which is attached to a disc Hi, made of non-conductive material. Fixed to the disc H3, is the hook 12, of non-conductive material, or it may be of metal that is well coated with non-conductive material. This hook I2 is adapted to releasably hang upon the cheek electrode i3. Releasably attached to the binding post 9 is the negative wire H, in circuit with the negative wire 7, thru the binding post 9. The wire H is insulated by pieces of rubber spaghetti tubing it. Some of these pieces [5 are adapted, where convenient, to be slid along the wire H to insulate it from the flesh of the patient, particularly the tissues of the mouth. The negative wire II is shown terminating in two branches H5, each of which is shown electrically connected with a slender broach H, shown positioned within a canal of the tooth l8, and forming at tooth electrode.

The apparatus as described becomes an essential element in the following method for sterilizing tooth canals. In this process a number of important steps must be sequentially followed in order to achieve the desired aseptic conditions in the treatment of pulpless teeth.

First, the tooth canal must be mechanically cleaned with fine barbed broaches, starting with a smooth broach in case of a constriction in the canal and following with successively larger, barbed broaches until the canal presents direct access for the broach carrying the current to the apical foramen. Precautions must be observed against forcing the debris through the apical foramen with the possibility of injuring the apical tissues.

Secondly, the pulp remnants are then destroyed by applying to canals, especially when narrow and constricted, a 40% to a solution of pure sulphuric acid to be followed by a wash of a sodium bicarbonate solution. The resulting eifervescence of carbon dioxide will clean the canal and the canaliculi of nearly all of the debris that has developed during the solvent action of the acid. Then the pump chamber is washed with warm sterile water and flooded afterwards with alcohol in order to render it desiccated. At this point of the procedure, a

smooth, steel broach is inserted to within a A; or a inch of the apex and the tooth is X-rayed. Thirdly, the pulp chamber and the canals are therapeutically treated with mono-chlorophenol, 2 parts, and camphor, 1 part, and covered with a temporary filling of cement. However, if the tooth is freshly devitalized and not putrescent, a eugenol treatment is employed instead.

Fourthly, the canals are now prepared for the concluding step of electro-sterilization. The temporary filling is removed from the canal and a rubber darn or wad of cotton is placed into the patients mouth in order to control salivation. The canals are then flooded with 95% alcohol, dried with a blast of hot air and polished with sterile paper points. A solution of iodine, containing preferably 16.5% free iodine and 2.5% combined iodine, is forced by a fine broach into the canals, observing the precaution of withholding the breach a inch to a 4; inch from the apical foramen. A breach ii is then attached to one of the branches it, of the wire 2 l. The positive cheek electrode I3 is positioned to grip the patients cheek after the hook i2 has been suspended from it. The direct current is turned on gradually until the patient feels a tingling sensation in the tooth and is then slightly reduced in order that the tooth under treatment becomes entirely comfortable. The milliammeter 19 on the box l acts as a guide to the correct distribution of current to the canals. During the sterilizing process the current should remain stationary in value since a sudden rise in amperage is in icative of either tissue collapse or a shortened circuit beyond the apical ioramen. The current strength usually ranges from .5 to l milliampere and is predicated on the accepted formula, 30 divided by the number of milliamperes equals the time in minutes. Throughout the sterilizing process a drop of the iodine solution is deposited periodically (every ten minutes) into the root canal to replace that which has been exhausted or carried beyond the apex. At the expiration of the required time for sterilization the current is interrupted and the electrodes removed. The canals are then flushed with distilled water, dried,

flushed with alcohol, dehydrated by a blast of warm air, and polished with paper points. After these event, the canals and the tooth are filled in the conventional manner.

The present preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrative only and is not to be construed as restrictive of the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an electrical, dental sterilizing apparatus of the class described, having means for transforming, rectifying and reducing an electrical current, and having two low current terminals, an electric circuit having in combina tion, a tooth electrode adapted for insertion into the canal or cavity of a tooth, within the mouth of a person, a substantially U-shaped, metallic and elastic, cheek electrode, having a bent bar body, with two convergent leg portions extending in the same direction, a pad portion on each of said leg portions, conductive of electricity, said pad portions being in juxtaposition, affording a spring-pressed, gripping action, to grip the cheek of said person between said pad portions, while being also positioned to have one of said pad portions inside said cheek, in contact with the moist inner surface thereof, and to have the other of said pad portions outside of said cheek, in contact with the outer surface thereof, with said bar body resting at the persons mouth, Where it passes within the same, a Wire conductor connecting one of said pad portions with one of said terminals, and a second wire conductor connecting said tooth electrode with the other of said terminals.

2. An electrical, dental, sterilizing apparatus, as set forth in claim 1, and having in addition thereto, a binding post for releasably connecting intermediate ends of said second wire conductor, in the Vicinity of said check electrode, and a hook fixed to said binding post, said hook being insulated and removably supported upon said cheek electrode.

BENJAMIN WILLIAM MEIIAAN. 

